Scenario Planning

More ramblings from the depths of my marginal brain.  Or "How do I plan for and think about bad things that could happen while traveling down the road."

15 months ago we started our traveling life style with only slight hesitations about what was ahead in the great unknown.  Being the planner I am, I had run hundreds of scenarios through my mind and had developed solutions for when "Crap Happened".

I had covered medical, dental, communications, financial, Mexican visas, foreign insurance, even vet care for Eva.  I had done my due diligence and planning.  I had worried the proper amount about our new life style.

The last couple of days gave us the chance to experience one of those fun little situations that life throws our way. Here's what happened.

As we drove uphill into Yosemite National Park I was hearing strange and unfamiliar sounds from the braking system on the motorhome.  This was not an immediate problem because we were going uphill, the problem would be going 100 miles back down hill.  We were camped for 3 nights so it gave me plenty of time to think about our situation.

Now back to my "Scenario Planning".  I had planned ahead.  I had an amazing tow insurance plan so I was covered there.  Next was something I call my "OH Crap Fund".  I had set aside a nice stack of money for when things went wrong.  I never wanted to be forced into making a poor decision because of finances.  It was time to use a little of that money to remedy our situation.

So instead of worrying or white knuckling my way down the mountain or being to proud and manly, I made the call.   Getting a tow to our location was not easy, there was a very active forest fire going on the highway we had traveled into the park. They had sadly lost a pilot and his fire fighting plane in their efforts to put out the fire, so traffic was a challenge.

We waited comfortable in our home on wheels all day until the tow truck arrived.  After hooking up, disconnecting the drive line on the motorhome, we were ready to follow the tow truck in our Honda.  3 hours and 97 miles down the mountains and we were in Fresno at the repair shop.  It only took 13 hours to get through the experience.

Because we had the "OH Crap Fund" I decided to have a complete rebuild of the brake system.  We had new pads, rotors and calipers on all 4 disc brakes.  It was probably overkill for the situation but I thought that with many years ahead of travel I might as well use the "Fund" and have peace of mind.  That's what it was there for.

Life is Good and it only cost $1,946.34.  Cool.

Eva didn't worry one bit.